May 28, 2014

G52: Red Sox 4, Atlanta 0

Atlanta - 000 000 000 - 0  9  1
Red Sox - 011 001 10x - 4 12  0
Led by John Lackey (6-8-0-0-9, 105), the Red Sox extended their season-best winning streak to three games.


Xander Bogaerts reached base four times, with two singles, a double, and a walk; he also scored a run. Jonny Gomes singled twice, walked, scored, and drove in a run. Jackie Bradley and A.J. Pierzynski each had two hits and one RBI. Grady Sizemore singled and walked twice.

2nd inning: Gomes reached second base on an infield single and shortstop Ramiro Pena's throwing error. A wild pitch sent him to third, and after Sizemore walked, Gomes scored when Daniel Nava grounded into a double play.

3rd inning: Bogaerts raced to second when his one-out fly ball fell between center fielder B.J. Upton and second baseman Tommy La Stella for a double. After Dustin Pedroia struck out, David Ortiz singled and Bogaerts went to third. Pierzynski's groundball single to center made it 2-0.

6th inning: Facing reliever Alex Wood, Gomes walked and Sizemore singled. After pinch-hitter Ryan Lavarnway flied to left, Bradley whacked an opposite-field double to left, scoring Gomes.

7th inning: Pedroia singled. He went to second on Ortiz's groundout to first and to third on Pierzynski's soft single to right. Gomes brought Pedroia home with a line drive single to left.

Lackey retired Atlanta in order only once, but he scattered eight hits and did not walk anyone. He left the game with two on and one out in the seventh. Chris Capuano retired Jason Heyward for the second out, but walked B.J. Upton on four pitches to load the bases. With Boston up 3-0, Freddie Freeman represented the go-ahead run at the plate. He got ahead in the count 3-1, but ended up grounding a full-count pitch to Pedroia, and Atlanta stranded three men.

Junichi Tazawa pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, striking out two. Craig Breslow took the ninth, allowing a leadoff single, but sending the next three batters to the bench on two fly balls and an infield popup.

The Red Sox will try for a four-game sweep of Atlanta tomorrow night before the Rays come to town for the weekend.
Example
Gavin Floyd / John Lackey
Holt, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Pierzynski, C
Gomes, LF
Sizemore, RF
Nava, 1B
Bradley, CF
The Red Sox will honour and celebrate the 2004 World Champions before tonight's game. Nearly every player who played during that memorable season will be at Fenway Park. ... Obligatory Note: If you haven't ordered your copy of "Don't Let Us Win Tonight", do it now!

Don't Read This: The headline over Ron Borges's idiotic column in the Herald reads: "All's Not Well Since 2004 Red Sox". In case you are wondering, the numbers "2007" and/or "2013" do not appear at all in the column. Borges talks about a "new curse", too. (Of course, he does.) Writers like Borges remain divorced from all reality, unwilling to acknowledge what the Red Sox have accomplished in the last 10 years; they are wholly addicted to gloom and doom.

10 comments:

nick said...

I like to think of "Writers like Borges" as a good thing. Why's he gotta go mess that up? And on a topic related to "reality" no less.

laura k said...

In case you are wondering, the numbers "2007" and/or "2013" do not appear at all in the column.

What a total idiot.

Three Championships in 10 years! We will not forget!

FenFan said...

Does these sportswriters even read what they've written before hitting Send?

FenFan said...

Speaking of...

I've only had Allan's book in hand since mid-March but I finally wrote and published my review of DLUWT at my site today.

Seriously, what a great book, Allan; so easy and enjoyable to read. I'm actually reading through it a second time right now.

When my grandkids someday ask about the 2004 Red Sox, this is the book I'll reference for them to read.

SJJ said...

Didn't they also get Borges out of mothballs for the "Fried Chicken and Pain Pills" piece because the beat guys didn't want their names on it?

allan said...

FF: Thanks for the review!

Tom DePlonty said...

Excellent gif. Now we need a sweep.

On a side note - back in 2011, who'd have thought, a few years later, that we'd be looking forward to Lackey starts?

Nick Sincere said...

Ordered DLUWT at my local independent bookstore. Read through it pretty quickly and enjoyed it a lot. Now I'll give it to a friend of mine who's a Mariner's fan, poor guy. I thought it would be interesting to put together the JoS posts from around the 2004 playoffs in a book form, maybe as a print on demand type of thing.

allan said...

I thought it would be interesting to put together the JoS posts from around the 2004 playoffs in a book form, maybe as a print on demand type of thing.

Nick, I actually did that back in 2005, though it was more as a present to myself than anything else. It is all of the baseball posts from JoS from the morning of 2003 ALCS 7 to the end of the 2004 WS. I also went back and rewatched all of the postseason in the spring of 2005 and included those posts, as well.

I had Cafe Press print it up. You can order it here if you like.

(I'm not sure how many people have bought a copy - not that I care. As I said, I did it for myself. CP says I have earned 21 cents. I think that means 7 copies, which includes copies I bought. It's a very rare book!)

allan said...

See also this short post from October 31, 2005.